<ftf)e CotnmontDColtl) of AVLassattyustltQ. 

TEACHERS' RETIREMENT BOARD. 



LEGISLATION 



RELATIVE TO THE 



Retirement System for Public 
school teachers 



ENACTED BY 



THE GENERAL COURT OF 1916. 




BOSTON: 

WRIGHT & POTTER PRINTING CO., STATE PRINTERS, 

32 DERNE STREET. 

1916. 






Approved by 
The State Board op Publication. 



3. of D. 
1918 



LEGISLATION EELATIVE TO THE EETIEEMENT SYSTEM 
FOE PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHEES ENACTED BY THE 
GENEEAL COUET OF 1916. 



Since Bulletin No. 2 was published in November, 1915, the 
following acts affecting the retirement system have been 
passed : — 

General Acts, Chapter 54. 

An Act relative to the Retirement of Teachers and Other Employees in 
Training Schools maintained under the Direction of the Board of 
Education. 

Section 1. All persons employed as teachers in training schools main- 
tained and controlled by the board of education shall be considered as 
public school teachers for the purposes of chapter eight hundred and thirty- 
two of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and thirteen and acts in 
amendment thereof and in addition thereto, and such a teacher upon be- 
coming a member of the Teachers' Retirement Association shall thereafter 
pay to the Teachers' Annuity Fund assessments based upon his total salary 
including the part paid by the commonwealth: provided, that the total 
assessments shall not exceed one hundred dollars in any one year. Such 
assessments shall be deducted in accordance with rules and regulations 
prescribed by the teachers' retirement board. Nothing herein contained 
shall apply to teachers regularly employed in the normal schools who 
devote some time to training school work, and are therefore subject to the 
provisions of chapter five hundred and thirty-two of the acts of the year 
nineteen hundred and eleven, and acts in amendment thereof and in addi- 
tion thereto. 

Section 2. Teachers now members of the association established by 
chapter five hundred and thirty-two of the acts of the year nineteen hun- 
dred and eleven and acts in amendment thereof and in addition thereto, 
who, under the provisions of this act, become members of the retirement 
association established by chapter eight hundred and thirty-two of the 
acts of the year nineteen hundred and thirteen, and acts in amendment 
thereof and in addition thereto, shall have the full amount of their con- 
tributions, together with such interest as shall have been earned thereon, 



transferred in the manner prescribed by chapter one hundred and ninety- 
seven of the General Acts of the year nineteen hundred and fifteen. 

Section 3. All other persons employed in the training schools main- 
tained and controlled by the board of education in buildings owned by 
the commonwealth shall be considered employees of the commonwealth 
for the purposes of chapter five hundred and thirty-two of the acts of the 
year nineteen hundred and eleven, and acts in amendment thereof and 
in addition thereto. All other persons employed in the training schools 
maintained and controlled by the board of education in buildings not 
owned by the commonwealth shall not be considered employees of the 
commonwealth for the purposes of said act. 

Section 4. This act shall take effect on the first day of July, nineteen 
hundred and sixteen. [Approved March 21, 1916. 

The teachers in the training schools were formerly members 
of the Retirement Association for State Employees, and the 
amounts they contributed towards their retiring allowances 
were based only upon the salary received from the State. 
Chapter 54, General Acts of 1916, was passed in order that 
their contributions might be based upon the full salary, and 
the amount of the retiring allowance thereby increased. 

General Acts, Chapter 60. 

An Act relative to Refunds to Members of the Teachers' Retirement As- 
sociation who withdraw from the Service of the Public Schools. 

Section 1. Section seven of chapter eight hundred and thirty-two of 
the acts of the year nineteen hundred and thirteen is hereby amended by 
striking out paragraph (2) and inserting in place thereof the following new 
paragraph: — (2) If such withdrawal shall take place before six annual 
assessments have been paid, the total amount to which such member is 
entitled as determined by the retirement board under the provisions of 
this act may be paid to him in one sum. 

Section 2. Paragraph (3) of section seven of said chapter eight hun- 
dred and thirty-two is hereby amended by striking out the word "ten", 
in the first line, and inserting in place thereof the word: — six, — so as to 
read as follows: — (3) If such withdrawal shall take place after six annual 
assessments have been paid the amount so refunded shall be in the form 
of such annuity for life based on the contributions of such member, to- 
gether with regular interest thereon, as may be determined by the retire- 
ment board according to its annuity tables, or in four annual instalments, 
as such member may elect. 

Section 3. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [Approved 
March 21, 1916. 



The teachers' retirement law originally provided that when 
a member of the association withdrew from the service of the 
public schools the total amount which he had contributed, 
with the interest allowed thereon, be refunded in four annual 
instalments. Chapter 60, General Acts, was passed because it 
was found that a great many teachers withdrew from the serv- 
ice before having paid many contributions to the annuity fund, 
and it was decided that when the amount to be refunded was 
small it was better to make the refund in one sum. 

General Acts, Chapter 75. 

An Act to prohibit the Pledge, Mortgage, Sale, Assignment or Transfer 
of Pensions granted by the Commonwealth or by Any County, City 
or Town. 

Any pledge, mortgage, sale, assignment, or transfer hereafter made of 
any right, claim, or interest in any pension which has been, or may here- 
after be granted by the commonwealth or by any county, city or town,, 
shall be void and of no effect, and any person who shall be a party to such 
pledge, mortgage, sale, assignment or transfer of any right, claim, or interest 
in any pension, or pension certificate, which has been, or may hereafter 
be granted or issued by the commonwealth or by any county, city or town, 
or who shall hold the same as collateral security for any debt or promise, 
or upon any pretext of such security or promise, shall be guilty of a mis- 
demeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not 
exceeding one hundred dollars. [Approved March 24, 1916. 

The above chapter makes punishable by fine the pledge, 
mortgage, assignment or transfer of pensions granted by the 
Commonwealth or by any county, town or city. 

Section 8 of chapter 832, Acts of 1913, makes any assign- 
ment of any right in or to any funds in connection with an 
annuity or. pension for teachers not valid, while chapter 75, 
quoted above, makes such action, upon conviction, punishable 
by fine. 

General Acts, Chapter 238. 

An Act relative to Certain Payments under the Retirement System for 
Public School Teachers. 

Section 1. Paragraph (6) of section seven of chapter eight hundred 
and thirty-two of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and thirteen is 
hereby amended by adding at the end thereof the following: — if, however, 
there is no executor or administrator of the estate of such deceased member, 
all sums due under this paragraph, not exceeding one hundred dollars in 



any one case, may be paid to such person or persons as appear in the judg- 
ment of the retirement board to be entitled to the proceeds of the estate, 
and such payment shall be a bar to recovery by any other person, — so 
that said paragraph will read as follows: — (6) If a member of the retire- 
ment association shall die before retirement, the full amount of his contri- 
butions to the annuity fund with regular interest to the day of his death 
shall be paid to his legal representatives; if, however, there is no executor 
or administrator of the estate of such deceased member, all sums due under 
this paragraph, not exceeding one hundred dollars in any one case, may 
be paid to such person or persons as appear in the judgment of the retire- 
ment board to be entitled to the proceeds of the estate, and such payment 
shall be a bar to recovery by any other person. 

Section 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [Approved 
May 20, 1916. 

In the event of death of a member of the association before 
retirement, it was necessary that a legal representative be ap- 
pointed, in order that the amount contributed, with the interest 
allowed thereon, might be refunded. Under the provisions of 
the above chapter, refunds of amounts under $100 may now be 
made without the estate incurring the expense of the appoint- 
ment of a legal representative. 

General Acts, Chapter 257. 
An Act relative to the Retirement System for Public School Teachers. 

Section 1. Section one of chapter eight hundred and thirty- two of the 
acts of the year nineteen hundred and thirteen is hereby amended by 
striking out paragraph (6) and inserting in place thereof the following: 

— (6) "Regular interest" shall mean interest at the rate determined by 
the retirement board and shall be substantially that which is actually 
earned, which shall be compounded annually on the last day of December 
of each year. 

Section 2. Paragraph (5) of section six of said chapter eight hundred 
and thirty-two is hereby amended by striking out the words "regular 
interest", in the twentieth line, and inserting in place thereof the words: 

— three per cent interest compounded annually, — so as to read as fol- 
lows : — (5) Any teacher who shall have become a member of the retire- 
ment association under the provisions of paragraph numbered (2) of section 
three, and who shall have served fifteen years or more in the public schools 
of the commonwealth, not less than five of which shall immediately precede 
retirement, shall, on retiring as provided in paragraphs (1) and (2) of this 
section, be entitled to receive a retirement allowance as follows : — (a) 
such annuity and pension as may be due under the provisions of paragraphs 
numbered (3) and (4) of this section ; (6) an additional pension to such an 



amount that the sum of this additional pension and the pension provided 
in paragraph (4) of this section shall equal the pension to which he would 
have been entitled under the provisions of this act if he had paid thirty 
assessments on his average yearly wage for the fifteen years preceding his 
retirement and at the rate in effect at the time of his retirement: provided, 
(1) that if his term of service in the commonwealth shall have been over 
thirty years the thirty assessments shall be reckoned as having begun at 
the time of his entering service and as drawing three per cent interest com- 
pounded annually until the time of retirement; and further provided, (2) 
that if the sum of such additional pension together with the annuity and 
pension provided for by paragraphs numbered (3) and (4) of this section 
is less than three hundred dollars in any one year, an additional sum suffi- 
cient to make an annual retirement allowance of three hundred dollars 
shall be paid from the pension fund. [Approved May 24, 1916. 

The retirement law originally provided that the accounts of 
the members of the association be credited with 3 per cent 
interest. As the funds contributed by the members have been 
invested in securities which are yielding about 4 per cent 
interest, chapter 257, General Acts, was created in order that 
the members might receive the benefit of all the interest 
earned on their contributions. 

Resolves, Chapter 152. 

Resolve providing for an Investigation by the Teachers' Retirement Board 
of the Subject of a Disability Retirement Allowance for Public School 
Teachers. 

Resolved, That the teachers' retirement board is hereby directed to in- 
vestigate the subject of providing for the retirement of public school 
teachers in cases of permanent disability. The board is authorized to 
expend for this purpose a sum not exceeding one hundred dollars, and is 
directed to report the results of its investigation to the next general court, 
with such recommendations as it may deem expedient, not later than the 
fifteenth day of January. [Approved June 1, 1916. 

The Massachusetts teachers' retirement law has been in suc- 
cessful operation since July 1, 1914, and practically the only 
criticism which has been made is that there is no provision for 
teachers who become disabled before the age of 60. It is hoped 
by the Retirement Board that as a result of the investigation 
provided by chapter 152 of the Resolves of 1916 some provision 
may be made for disabled teachers. 



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Caylord Bros. 

Makers 
Syracuse, N. Y. 

PAI. JAN. 21, 1908 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



III* 

021 334 470 5 




